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- Hardcover: 320 pages ;
Dimensions (in inches): 1.28 x 9.33 x 6.35
- Publisher: Putnam Pub Group;
(October 1, 2001)
- ISBN: 0399147799
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Book
Description
"With all the authority of a
bone-crunching fist, Robert B. Parker is back with another
breezy detective novel that mystery fans will find as
satisfying as a juicy prime rib at Peter Luger." (New
York Post)
The Paradise Men's Softball League has wrapped up another
game, and Jesse Stone is lingering in the parking lot with his
teammates, drinking beer, swapping stories of double plays and
beautiful women in the late-summer twilight.
But then a
frightened voice calls out to him from the edge of a nearby
lake. There, two men squat at the water's edge. In front of
them, facedown, was something that used to be a girl.
The local cops haven't seen anything like this, but Jesse's
L.A. past has made him all too familiar with floaters.
This girl
hadn't committed suicide; she hadn't been drowned: she'd been
shot and dumped, discarded like trash. Before long it becomes
clear that she had a taste for the wild life; and her own
parents can't be bothered to report her missing, or even admit
that she once was a child of theirs.
All Jesse
has to go on is a young man's school ring on a gold chain, and
a hunch or two.
Filled with magnetic characters and the muscular writing that
are Parker's trademarks, Death in Paradise is a
storytelling masterpiece.
With
assured confidence and a master's economy of means, Robert B.
Parker, who is best known for his Spenser
series, delivers one of his finest, most absorbing works
yet.
This third entry
in the Jesse Stone series finds Stone--a former LAPD cop fired
for drinking on the job--serving as chief of police in the town
of Paradise, Massachusetts, and investigating the murder of a
teenaged girl whose decomposed body turns up in the local
lake.
As he follows
slender threads of evidence into an ugly world of exploited
teens, several subplots crisscross, keeping things lively.
But Jesse's struggle with alcohol
and his loving, troubled relationship with his ex-wife are at
least as compelling as the external plot events.
Parker doesn't usually give his
characters much of an inner life, but here--in deftly compressed
prose, much of it dialog--he paints an understated, believable
portrait of a tough guy grappling with tough issues.
This smooth-reading book goes down
easy but packs a surprising wallop. --Nicholas H. Allison
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